The Reunion
by TheCurtisclan
Summary: With Winter affecting Ellie more than she thought, she struggles to find food and water, along with medicine for a wounded Joel. But, while scavengeing for supplies, she runs into an old friend, one she has catching up to do with. This is a sequel to my original story, set during the Winter portion of the game. This has been requested by a lot of people, so here it is!
1. Reunion

**Hello to anyone that's reading this story. First of all, and I cannot stress this enough, this is a sequel to my previous story,**_** Louis and Ellie's adventure**_**. Thankfully, I have a better title for the sequel that doesn't make it sound like an erotic fan-fiction. I would highly recommend reading my previous story if you haven't, because it would help you properly understand this one. Secondly, thanks for all of the positive feedback on my previous fan-fiction! And lastly, thank you to whomever is reading this story. Any feedback would be great. Song is Viva La Vida by Coldplay.**

Ellie rummaged through the many drawers of the kitchen she was in. She was searching for something, anything, to keep herself warm. She moved upstairs to the bedrooms and searched each one for blankets or jumpers. The winter season hadn't been good to her; between having to care for an injured Joel and gathering enough food to survive, she wasn't exactly in the best position for a teenage girl. She gave up on the house and backtracked downstairs to the front door. She braced herself and opened the door to the thick blizzard she found herself in. It felt like all this goddamn winter had actually given her had been blizzard after blizzard. She stumbled blindly through all the snow to the next building. She wished Joel was here, and not lying unconscious. She felt like she was growing crazy not having someone to talk to.

She entered the next house, and immediately went into the bathroom. Aside from warm things, she needed to find some kind of medication that she could give to Joel to help with the wound. But, as expected, the entire cabinet had been cleared out long ago. But she did find a lighter on the sink, half-full with lighter fluid. She put it in her jacket pocket and continued through the house. She decided to check upstairs first, just to mix things up on the boring routine of going house to house searching for supplies. It wasn't much warmer inside the houses, but at least she wasn't getting pelted by snow. She found an extra pair of socks in one of the wardrobes, and a crumpled jacket on one of the stripped beds. She almost went downstairs before she heard the front door down there open up and slam shut. It could've been the wind, but she didn't think the wind could open properly shut doors. She could confirm it wasn't the wind when she heard soft footsteps and an indistinguishable voice. She made her way quietly downstairs, and began to be able to make out what the voice was saying. And it seemed familiar somehow.

"One fucking infected. That's all it took to run our truck off the goddamn road and kill the rest of my team. And why in hell did it have to happen here, in the coldest place in America!" the voice said. Ellie got down the stairs and caught a glimpse of the figure the voice belonged to heading into the kitchen. The person seemed alone, so she wondered why they were talking to themselves. She followed the figure into the kitchen and hid behind the table. "You think a group of rebel soldiers would be able to properly prepare for a slippery road. But no! They go and get themselves killed!" Ellie thought this guy was obviously bat-shit crazy. They were talking to themselves! The figure had to be a man, if the voice was anything to go by. A young man by the look of him. Not much taller than her. The man took off his backpack and placed it on the kitchen counter and started to rummage through it. This gave Ellie a chance to sneak up behind him and take him out. She couldn't take any chances. She grabbed the figure from behind and tried to plunge the switchblade into his neck. He grabbed Ellie's arm and tried to fight the weapon from her, smashing her against the table behind them in the process. She pushed the figure away, dropping her switchblade in the process. She scrambled to pick it back up, but the pissed off figure stomped on her hand just as she grabbed it. She let out a pained squeal, and he grabbed her and started to try and choke her out. She bit his finger and got released from the figures grip. She picked up her switchblade, and pointed it at the figure. He put his hands up, and started to speak. "What the fuck are you doing? I'm not a goddamn bandit, you stupid…" He stopped talking suddenly and looked at her. "Wait a minute… Ellie? Is that you?" Ellie kept the knife on him.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" she asked him.

"I know much more about you, Ellie." The figure slid his hood off, revealing his short, blond hair. Ellie stared at him for a few seconds, trying to place a name. She lowered her switchblade when she realized who he was.

"No. Fucking. Way. Louis?" She threw down her switchblade and ran towards him, and gave him a tight hug. He did the same. "I haven't seen you for months, Louis. I thought you had died. I missed you so much." They let each other go and Louis smiled. "What happened? Back in Boston?" Louis was much taller than when she last saw him, now standing a foot taller than her.

"Trust me, it's a long story." He pulled out a Firefly pendant that hung around his neck, and handed it to her.

"Let's go back to my current hideout. Then you can explain yourself to me."

Ellie sat down cross-legged on the basement hardwood floor, where Joel lay next to her. Louis was originally deterred with the man lying unconscious on the floor, but set his backpack down and sat as well. They didn't know where to start. The both of them had had an interesting time these last few months. Louis decided to try and break the ice.

"Where do I even begin Ellie? What's been happening with you? What have you been doing all this time?" he asked her.

"Nothing really happened until Joel here came." She gestured over to the man. "We've been on quite a ride. We've faced bandits, infected, met some…" She sighed. "People along the way. We had a run in with a group of bandits up at a university. Joel got wounded there, but I managed to keep him alive long enough to get him some medical aid. But I need more to be able to properly patch him up. I just really hope I can get it to him." She looked back up to Louis. "What about you? How did you escape back in Boston?" Louis looked at his pendant he was holding.

"The Fireflies happened to me. Apparently, Marlene knew you Ellie, and she followed us from the mall. She saw my potential as a Firefly. Bravery, sacrifice, she told me that they were the qualities of a 'true' Firefly. So, she saved me just in time from Gerald and took me back to her base. I went through a month and a half worth of training, in which I had to kill military soldiers…" he was still haunted by that first kill. The knowledge that he had sent a man to the grave. It was something that a person couldn't easily forget. "Eventually they made me a soldier, and I was put in a squad. We stayed in Boston for a few months, performing random strikes on the military. But, about three weeks ago, we were sent with another squad to be transferred over to a university not too far from here." Louis spun the pendant around in his hands. "We found them all dead. We were too far from Boston, so we decided to head up to a hospital over in Salt Lake City." Ellie had a look of surprise.

"Really? We were also down at the university, but a group of bandits attacked us. Now Joel has an almost fatal wound, and I'm stuck here for the time being."

"Well I'm not doing much better. We were heading up to Salt Lake when an infected came out of nowhere from the blizzard and drove us off the icy road. I was injured in the crash, but nothing too major." He showed her some of the cuts and bruises along his arms and legs and under his shirt. Ellie wasn't prepared for him to lift up his shirt, revealing his muscles he had gained from those months of hard exercise in Boston. She blushed a little, but hid it from Louis. "I lost one of my squad just in the crash, and a couple others that suffered bad wounds. There was only one other person in my squad that might've survived. A boy, a couple of years older than me. He managed to walk out into the blizzard before I could catch up to him." Louis felt a mix between anger and sadness all of a sudden. "All because we had to keep going through the fucking blizzard. The squad leader was an idiot to not wait it out!" He calmed down; knowing where letting his emotions go wild led him. "At least I got one good thing out of this. I finally got to see you after all this time. You know, it's kind of weird. All I thought about was you and how I could, some day, see you again. But now that it's happened, I don't know how to feel about it. I feel a mixture of happiness, longing, and fondness for you, Ellie. You haven't changed since I last saw you, Ellie."

"I can't really say the same for you. You've grown a lot taller."

"Yeah, I have. I started growing when I turned fifteen a couple of months ago." Louis smiled at Ellie, but she just looked down and sighed.

"Louis, back in Boston, it can't happen again. Especially now, when I have too much on my mind." Louis sat awkwardly now, and cleared his throat after a few seconds.

"I'll remember that. Changing the subject, why are you going to Salt Lake? Why have you come all this way?" Ellie knew she couldn't tell Louis the truth. He wouldn't believe her, and even if she showed him the bite, he still wouldn't believe that it was months old.

"I really wish I could tell you that Louis. But that's between me, Joel, and the Fireflies to know," she replied.

"The Fireflies must find you important then. I'm a little curious, but I won't dwell on it." Louis got his backpack and set it down. He started to rummage through it, and eventually looked up at Ellie. "I grabbed a few things from the truck before I left it. You hungry?" He pulled out a couple tins of peaches and a can opener. Ellie spotted a violin in Louis's backpack, and remembered how good he was at playing it.

"You still play violin? Or have you become too tough for that?" Louis opened one tin of peaches and handed it to her.

"No, I still play it any chance I get. Between fighting the military, exercising, and getting yelled at by my squad leader, this was a great way to entertain myself, along with the rest of the squad. I've gotten really good, if I do say so myself." He placed down his half-eaten tin of peaches and got out his instrument. Custom made by his father before the Cordyceps had even started. He cherished the thing like he would his life. He risked his life just sneaking into the military institute he used to go to, just to get it back.

"You were good, though. I'd like to hear you play again Louis. If that's okay with you?" Louis nodded.

"I think that can be arranged." He pulled the violin bow out of his backpack and recalled his favorite song he liked to play.

[Louis]

I used to rule the world 

Seas would rise when I gave the word 

Now in the morning I sleep alone 

Sweep the streets I used to own 

I used to roll the dice 

Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes 

Listen as the crowd would sing 

"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!" 

One minute I held the key 

Next the walls were closed on me 

And I discovered that my castles stand 

Upon pillars of sand and pillars of sand 

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing 

Roman Cavalry choirs are singing 

Be my mirror, my sword and shield 

My missionaries in a foreign field 

For some reason I can't explain 

Once you go there was never 

Never an honest word 

And that was when I ruled the world 

Ellie felt shivers down her back as he played the song. He was even better than when he last played for her.

It was the wicked and wild wind 

Blew down the doors to let me in 

Shattered windows and the sound of drums 

People couldn't believe what I'd become 

Revolutionaries wait 

For my head on a silver plate 

Just a puppet on a lonely string 

Oh, who would ever wanna be king? 

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing 

Roman Cavalry choirs are singing 

Be my mirror, my sword and shield 

My missionaries in a foreign field 

For some reason I can't explain 

I know Saint Peter won't call my name 

Never an honest word 

But that was when I ruled the world 

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing 

Roman Cavalry choirs are singing 

Be my mirror, my sword and shield 

My missionaries in a foreign field 

For some reason I can't explain 

I know Saint Peter won't call my name 

Never an honest word 

But that was when I ruled the world

He finished up his song and laid the violin in his lap. He remembered his squad, and remembered the way they used to enjoy him playing for them. He placed his violin back in his backpack and got up.

"Your friend there need medicine? Well, we had some antibiotics in the truck before we crashed. I could take you there to see if they weren't destroyed in the crash. I need to see if my friend made his way back there anyway." Ellie was surprised by the sudden burst of this idea, but stood up with him. She took the woolen jacket she had gotten earlier and put it on, and then she crouched down next to the unconscious man and whispered something to him. She then stood up and headed to the door.

"I hope you still have that medicine," she told him.

They made their way down a small hill, where the crashed truck stood at the bottom, upturned from when it crashed._ Well Louis, remember this? That moment you woke up to find most of your squad dead? At least it wasn't as bad as that first kill. But you didn't see it, did you? You only saw the 'after' picture of the man. His bullet ridden body from the twenty or so bullets you had put into him. It was a bit overkill, wasn't it? It's understandable, considering that you saw him as a bigger threat than he actually was. _Louis ignored his 'conscience' and continued down. He spotted the three members of his squad that had died in the crash.

"Ellie, I think you should stay here. The men are pretty mangled from the…" Ellie cut him off.

"I can handle myself, Louis. You're not the only one that's killed a man." She moved to the truck in front of Louis, stepping over the dead men. He followed her up to the back of the truck, only to find that everything had already been looted from there.

"Goddamnit!" He kicked a small tree next to the truck, causing some of the snow to fall from the tree. He looked back at Ellie. "Some bandit must've got here before us. Everything's gone." He heard footsteps come from the top of the hill.

"It wasn't bandits that took all the stuff, Louis," a voice said. He looked up to see who had said it, and felt joy to see who was standing there.

"Shane? You came back!" His friend slid down the hill, and they bumped fists. "I'm glad to see you didn't die at the hands of our incompetent squad leader. Where'd our stuff go?"

"I came back to look for you when I found help. But you were gone, so I took all our stuff to keep it safe." Shane finally noticed a girl standing next to Louis. "Uhhhh, who's your friend over there Louis?" Louis had almost forgotten about her.

"Shane, this is Ellie. Ellie, this is Shane, the only person in my squad that I actually liked." Shane shook her hand, and stood back. "Wait a minute, what do you mean by help?" He heard a man clear his voice at the top of the hill. There were two men stood up there, one looking in his thirties, the other in his twenties. Shane gestured for the men to come down the hill, where they complied.

"These are the guys that helped me. They have a community not far from here. They agreed to help me if I split some of the supplies with them." Louis studied the two men.

"So you gave our supplies to complete strangers?"

"No, no, no, no, we can trust them. I've seen their town, and they have women and children there. Bandits don't have women and children, Louis." Louis wasn't sure about that. He lived in a bandit group for ten years, and they had women and children. But they didn't attack Shane, so they _might_ not be bandits.

"Where'd you find these guys, Shane?" One of the bandits, the older looking one, decided to step forward.

"If I may intrude here, I think we should formally introduce ourselves. I gathered your name was Louis. What about your friend?" Ellie didn't trust the man, but he seemed friendly enough.

"My name's Ellie. I've got to ask, do you have any medicine?" The man smiled.

"Only what the boy gave me, Ellie. He gave me more than enough, so I'd be willing to spare some. But only if you come and get it, back at the town. Where are my manners though? My name's David, and this is James. It's a pleasure to meet you two."


	2. Friendship

Louis felt the cold deep inside his bones. Well, he felt it everywhere really. God, it was a wonder he hadn't frozen to death yet. He trudged through the thick snow that he found himself in, trying to keep up with the two strangers that were leading them. He still wasn't too sure about how trustworthy David or James were, so he kept his wits with him as they were guided through the rough terrain. Ellie and Shane had followed close behind him, Ellie feeling even less trusting of the two men then Louis. David pointed towards a small town that they were nearing.

"There it is. I'll show you two to the medicine, and maybe give you a short tour of the town, and you can be on your way." Louis didn't like the idea of staying any longer than he had to. There was just something bugging him about these men, especially that David. He almost seemed _too_ friendly. Louis slowed down so he could walk beside Shane.

"What about you? What are you planning to do after this?" he asked him. Shane looked at the two men they were following.

"I don't know. I'm kind of torn between to keep going through to Salt Lake, or taking up David's offer and staying here with him." Louis was shocked that he even wanted to stay.

"You can't stay here! We all took that oath back at Boston. We pledged our allegiance to the Fireflies, and that cannot stop now." Shane slowed down and pulled Louis to a stop with him.

"Louis, the Fireflies aren't gonna last. All we are is a bunch of ill-equipped civilians that have had a couple of months of military training. There's no stability to this, man! But here, I feel confident about the future. They got everything; a source of food, water, protection from the infected, there's not much more you can ask for." Louis thought about it. _Oh please, all places fall eventually. Entire quarantine zones have fallen, so some ridiculous civilian community isn't going to last. I mean, your father took down half a bandit group while protecting you, didn't he Louis? _Protecting him. As much as he hated it, his 'conscience' was right. Although the Fireflies might not last, they'll last a lot longer than a civilian town.

"Shane, you can't expect to live happily ever after in this place. I mean, what'll you even do? I know I don't want to have to go to Salt Lake and tell them that three people died and one went M.I.A!"

"That's why you should stay here with me! We're just a couple of soldiers, they won't miss us." Louis scoffed at the idea.

"We can't do that! I'm a man of my promise, and I can't just break a promise I made to the Fireflies."

"You can't break that promise? Or you don't want to? There's a big difference, Louis." Shane went to catch up to the others, and purposely bumped into Louis along the way. Louis waited a few seconds and started to catch up as well.

Shane caught up and started to walk beside Ellie. David led them into the town, where they saw the first of the people who lived there. He wasn't lying when he said there were women and children, at least. That made Ellie feel a bit better about these guys not being bandits, at least. Shane had a lot of questions to ask this girl Louis apparently knew.

"How does Louis know you?" Was the first question that popped out of his mouth. Ellie was surprised by this question, but answered it anyway.

"Well, that goes back to a few months ago. Back in the military institute we used to go to. One day he came to me, and asked to hang out. I thought it could be fun, seeing as I hadn't really had any friends in the school. We went to this mall nearby, had a bit of fun, I did things I kind of regret, and eventually we got cornered by these bandits that apparently knew Louis. He sacrificed himself to protect me, and that's all that really happened. I guess that's when the Fireflies saved him and made him a member." Shane gave her a smile.

"You know, besides the bandits, that kind of sounds like a date." Ellie gave him a small shove and Shane chuckled.

"I can understand that. He's a likeable guy. Handsome, plays an instrument, genuinely caring. He's… he's a great guy." Ellie looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sounds like you're the one that has a crush on him." Shane didn't speak, and Ellie realized something. "_**Do**_ you like him?" Shane didn't answer and instead changed the subject.

"So what are you doing here, anyway? You'd have had to have a reason to come here all the way from Boston." Ellie was annoyed by the way he evaded her question. But she brushed it off.

"I can't really tell you much. Only that the Fireflies want me in Salt Lake City."

"That's awfully vague. What's so bad that you have to keep it a secret?"

"I could ask you the same question about Louis." Shane looked at her with annoyance, and she shared the same look to him.

"What do you want from me? I barely know you for god's sake!"

"Then you can get to fucking know me! But for that, I need to know you as well!"

"You don't need to know anything about me! And to be honest? I don't give two shits about why the Fireflies want you." They were interrupted from their squabbling by David calling Ellie up to the medical bay. She jogged up there and stood just outside of a small building that housed the communities wounded and medical supplies. David handed her a couple of bottles and a syringe.

"There you go. As promised." She put the medicine in her backpack and thanked the man. "You know, this Winter has been just as harsh to us as it has to you. But don't be afraid to come back, you know. We could always use some more help."

"I barely feel comfortable being here right now. I'm gonna go, alright?" David smiled and nodded. Ellie still felt something bad about that man, like he was hiding something. Louis stood next to Shane, as Ellie made her way over to them.

"C'mon Louis, let's go. I really don't like this place." David came up behind them.

"Actually, if he wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to Louis." Louis was confused as to why David would want to talk to him. But he didn't really mind.

"Sure, I guess." Ellie didn't want to walk back alone. It was a long walk without someone to talk to her.

"I'll go back with you instead, Ellie. We got some talking to do anyway." Ellie was reluctant, but eventually agreed and walked away with Shane. She took a last glance at Louis, and sighed.

David began to guide Louis further through the town, eventually stopping outside of an empty toy shop. David gestured for Louis to enter, and he reluctantly obeyed, a hand laid on a small knife that hung from his belt. David followed him inside, and set down his hunting rifle on a table next to them.

"You seem like an interesting kid, Louis." Louis got confused by this question.

"How so? I'm just some Firefly down on his luck." David gave a chuckle at that.

"You ain't a normal kid. I can tell by the way you look. Along with a few signs, such as that talking to yourself thing you did on the way here. Almost like you were answering to someone not there." Louis wasn't sure where he was going with this, but he grew worried. "A hallucination perhaps? Now I ain't no doctor, but this sounds a lot like a… mental condition?" Louis backed towards the door, not wanting to see where this was going. 

"What do you want David?" Louis asked him, one hand still on the knife in his belt.

"I ain't threatening you, so don't kill me just yet. You know, anyone with a basic medical knowledge could clearly tell you show signs of a schizophrenic. Or am I wrong?" Louis felt that he should just walk out right now, or try and take David out. But he kept himself from being irrational. "Tell me Louis; are you a threat to my little town here?"

"I'm not a threat to anyone that isn't a threat to me. If you've brought me here to stereotype me, then I'm gonna walk out right now."

"No, no. I believe that this is a twist of fate that you, and that girl, were brought here. Now I don't believe you're dangerous, far from it actually. I'm talking about Ellie." Louis took a couple of steps forward, a bit curious now.

"What are you talking about? How is she dangerous?"

"A while ago, I sent a few men up to a university to see why the Fireflies had gone quiet, and possibly scavenge some supplies. But while up there, they were attacked, a lot of them died. Luckily a few of them managed to report back to me. They told me that the rest of the scouting party had been eliminated. I asked them who the attackers were. I thought, at first, that it was the Fireflies that had attacked my men on sight. But the curious thing was, they told me that it was two people that managed to take the majority of them down. Two people! I thought, well these must be trained soldiers, well equipped. So could you imagine the disbelief when they told me that it was a middle aged man who they wounded, and a teenage girl." Louis knew where this was going, and felt disbelief towards David. Ellie had told him that the bandits had attacked first.

"You're full of shit David. Ellie already told me that it was your men who attacked first." Louis had had enough. He turned to walk out the door.

"She attacked them because they were a threat to her wellbeing. How long until she thinks the same of you?" Louis stopped in his tracks.

"She wouldn't do that. I know she wouldn't."

"You're a ticking time bomb, Louis. I know that, you know that, and she knows that. It's only a matter of time until she decides that she should take you out before you take her out in a hallucinogenic rage."_ He's got a point, Louis. You aren't exactly stable, are you? I don't think she would think twice about trying to protect herself from you, even if it meant having to kill you. You're like a boy that's just been bitten. A danger to society. _Louis shook his head.

"Stop David. Just stop." David started towards the door.

"Louis, you're a smart boy. This girl is a danger to the both of us, so why don't you just solve this problem for the both of us?"

"You're a fucking liar David. Trying to get into my head. There ain't no more room in there, David." David opened the door and stopped just before he closed the door.

"I know you'll want to protect yourself, Louis. And if you do, then you'll listen to me. Either way, I'll remember to send Ellie your way." And with that, he left, the door creaking closed. Louis rubbed his forehead, and thought he was coming down with a headache. He sat down on the floor, and rested against a shelf. As much as he hated to admit, he had a lot of thinking to do.

Shane followed Ellie down the road that led to the house she was staying at. They had talked a lot on the way there, and had actually learned to not hate each other. That wasn't to say that they liked each other, far from it in fact. But at least they weren't at each other's throats. Ellie opened the door and stepped inside the house, telling Louis to stay outside. She emerged a few minutes later, and they were headed back to the town.

"I'd hate to make things awkward, but I think it's time you answer my question." Ellie asked Shane. He sighed, his breath making a cloud of smoke from the cold.

"To be honest? I don't know. I've only known the guy for a few months. And I swear to god, he's just… sweeter than any girl I've ever met. Every time I'm around him, I get confused about him. You ever had that feeling before, Ellie?"

"No, no, not like that. Why aren't you open with him about this? It doesn't seem like a big deal." Shane gave a slight chuckle to that.

"If you think that, you're pretty damn naïve Ellie. I wish I could though. But there are a few problems with that. The foremost one being that he doesn't share the feeling." Ellie felt bad now.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't of have asked. Hey, you asked why the Fireflies wanted me, right? You still want to know?" Shane looked towards her and nodded. "Well, don't freak out, alright?" She rolled up one of her sleeves and showed Shane her bite. He recoiled and took a couple of steps away. "You don't have to worry, it's months old. It's the reason we were heading to Salt Lake." Shane still felt uneasy, but went back to his original place beside Ellie.

"So what does that have to do with anything?"

"Apparently, the Firefly scientists there can create a vaccine or something from whatever makes me immune."

"So, the fate of humanity rests in you?"

"I don't like to think about it that way. But basically, yes." Shane felt easy again. He felt good talking to Ellie now. They changed the subject from that, and talked with each other all the way back to town.

Ellie found her way to the store that Louis was in. Shane had decided to stay with David and talk with him. She opened the door and stepped into the store, where Louis was leaning on one of the shelves in the store. He heard her footsteps and turned around to face her, and Ellie could tell that he looked stressed.

"Are you okay Louis?" she asked him.

"No I'm not Ellie. I've got to talk with you." He rubbed his forehead again, feeling another headache coming on.

"What about?" Louis walked towards her slowly.

"I've been talking with David. I've got to ask, do you find me dangerous because of my condition?"

"What? Of course not. Why would I?" Louis took a couple more steps forward.

"Well David seems to think so."

"Well David's full of shit. I knew there was something about him. Louis we need to go." She began towards the door, and waited for Louis at the door.

"I don't know Ellie." He picked up his pace.

"What the fuck are you talking about Louis? We need to-" She was interrupted by Louis grabbing her shoulder, and shoving his small knife into her gut. She let out a small squeal.

"I'm so sorry, Ellie. I really am. But I know you would've done the same to me if you were given a chance." He let go of her, and she slumped to the ground, bleeding. "It was the only thing I could do." _Yes, the only thing you could do, right Louis?_ He crouched down beside her, and stroked her cheek. "I haven't injured you enough to kill you. I just hope Shane can find you, and get you away from this place. But if I ever see you here again, I'll have to kill you for real. I'm sorry." He got back up and walked towards the door. He took one last glance at Ellie as he walked out the door, hoping that she wouldn't actually bleed out before Shane got to her…-


	3. Regrets

Louis paced quickly to find Shane. He had to find him, before David found Louis first. He felt the headache in full force now, but it didn't slow him down yet. His vision got blurry after a while and everyone around him seemed to become a blur. He could hear many voices as he walked, not sure if they were from the people he passed, or if they were in his head.

"_This behavior is unacceptable! I can't make any exceptions."_

"_The Fireflies aren't going to accept some stupid little teenager with mental problems. Why don't you just fuck off?"_

"_What are you? Are you a grub, or are you a Firefly?" _Louis slowed down to a complete stop, and fell to his knees. He felt like he had taken a lead pipe to the head. He held his head in his hands, hoping to soothe his pain. But he couldn't do anything about it. He let out an agonizing groan and slumped to the ground, hands still glued to his forehead. He didn't know how long he was down there, could've been seconds, could've been minutes. He felt what he thought was a hand on his shoulder, and his headache just disappeared.

"Hey kid, are you alright?" He heard a faint voice ask him. It sounded like he was miles away.

"Yeah, I'm f-fine. Just a h-headache." He didn't hear the voice anymore though, only a growl. He gained the courage to finally look up, and almost lost his breath at what he saw. An infected. He kicked the thing away, and crawled back through the snow. The infected got up and screeched at him, and threw itself on top of Louis. He kept the thing at bay with one hand, and scrambled for his small knife with the other. He eventually got a grip on it, and plunged the knife into the infected throat. He pushed the thing off of him, and got up. He was immediately paralyzed with fear with all the infected he found around him. Was he hallucinating? Louis didn't know, but instead took action. He found a gun on the infected, a 9mm pistol, and got to the nearest cover. A couple of the infected ran at him. He cocked the gun and pointed it at the closer of the two, aiming straight at its head. He fired a shot, sending it to the ground, and immediately aimed towards the other one and fired. It too fell to the ground, wriggling in its final moments of life. He hopped over the cover and ran towards another infected, stabbing it in the neck with his knife. He then threw his knife at another running infected, throwing it to the ground. He quickly grabbed the knife from its lifeless corpse and ran into a building nearby. He pressed himself against the wall, and hid there, a gun in one hand and his knife in the other. A few infected passed by, one stopping for a couple of seconds outside the building, but eventually moving on. He had to get the hell out of there, and find Shane.

Louis snuck around the town, lying low to avoid the many infected running around the town. He managed to stay relatively away from the infected, until he was faced with a big group of them near the entrance to the town. He saw no way past them aside from going through them. He sat against the waist high wall and unloaded his clip from his pistol. He counted seven bullets left in the clip. There sure as hell weren't enough to take out the infected there. He reloaded the clip and got his knife out again. He closed his eyes and gave a small sigh, and jumped up and took a couple of shots, one shot missing, the other killing one of the infected. The other ones quickly reacted, running at him. He fired the rest of his bullets into the group, killing three of them. The last two of them kept running, one of them knocking Louis straight to the ground. The same infected that had knocked him to the ground fell on top of him, and tried to bite at him. He kept the thing away with his arm, and plunged his knife right into its neck. It went limp, and Louis pushed the thing off of him. Louis got up and realized he had lost sight of the last infected. He decided not to worry about it and get the hell out of town. He couldn't manage to walk three steps before another headache was brought upon him. He fell to his knees, panting with quick breaths. _Do you ever get the feeling that this life isn't yours, Louis? That you have no control? That everyone around you is living their own life, and you're just breathing from someone else's mouth, watching from someone else's eyes, waiting with someone else's mind… _

_But for what? That is you Louis. An empty shell filled with a pointless conscious. When will you acknowledge this though?_ Louis felt someone grab onto his shoulders and he snapped out of his headache again, but he kept his eyes closed. He felt weak.

"Louis? Louis, you alright?" He recognized the voice as Shane's.

"I don't feel well. Where are all the infected?" Shane got confused by this question.

"What infected? There are no infected, only a bunch of the guards here that you killed!" Louis was in no state to be surprised.

"Shane. It's David. He's not good. He got me to harm Ellie. He got into my head, made me think she was dangerous. We need to get to her." Louis could barely move still. Shane helped him up, but lost grip of him and he fell down again. "You need to help her. She's wounded in a toy shop not too far from here. We need to get to her."

"Not in your current state, you're not." Shane dragged him into a nearby alley and handed a pistol to him. "You stay here. I'll go find Ellie." He got up to go.

"Shane, wait." Shane looked back to him. "You're a great friend, you know that? Thank you." Shane gave a small smile to him. He finally knew how he felt about Louis.

"It's what friends are for, right?"

Shane ran as quickly as he could through the snow that still lay on the town. He tripped once or twice, but he had to keep going. He had to get to Ellie. Many of the bandits here were ordered to look for Louis, and they ran around town trying to find him, completely ignoring where Shane was going. He finally found himself outside of the store he was told to go to and entered inside. Louis wasn't lying. Ellie was scrawled on the ground, bleeding. He crouched next to her and took off his backpack. Rummaging through it, he pulled out a roll of bandages and set them on the ground beside him. He could see that the puncture was just above the stomach, which would mean to actually bandage her up properly, he would…

He tried not to think about it. He dragged Ellie over to a toy stand and sat her up against it. Ellie let out a groan.

"Louis? Is that you?"

"No, it's Shane. I'm going to patch you up, alright? But I have to take off your jacket, and lift up your shirt. After that we'll go get Louis and get the hell out of this town." Shane gave a sigh, and took off her jacket and placed it to the side. He bent her head forward a little bit and proceeded to take her shirt off as well. Although he felt awkward, he grabbed the bandages from behind him and wrapped the bandages around Ellie's body. As much as he tried, he just couldn't resist glancing a few times. Okay, most of the time. He wrapped up with the bandages and got her shirt back on, along with her jacket. "Alright Ellie, let's get you up. We have to go get Louis." He helped Ellie onto her feet. At least she was able walk with help. They got out of the store and onto the streets, Shane keeping a gun in his right hand, the other holding Ellie up.

"So?" Ellie asked him weakly.

"So what?"

"Did you like what you saw?" Shane blushed and coughed a couple of times.

"Uh… I, uh… It was cool… You know?" Shane was at a loss for words.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Just make me dinner first next time." Shane gave a nervous chuckle.

"I'll remember that next time."

They avoided the people that were still running around, looking for Louis. Although no-one actually knew Ellie, he didn't want to risk it. They eventually made their way to the entrance and Ellie told Shane that she could stand up by herself, so Shane went off to get Louis. He jogged over to the alley he had hid him. When he turned to enter the alley, he saw nothing. Louis wasn't there anymore. He ran back to Ellie.

"He's gone. I left him there for thirty minutes and he's gone. David must've found him. We need to help him."

"We can't. If David has Louis then he probably knows that I'm alive. And that you helped me. We need to get some help if we want to get Louis back from David. Come on." Shane stood there for a second, wondering about what to do. He knew he couldn't take on the whole town by himself, so he followed Ellie out of the town.

Louis woke up from his unconscious state to find himself in some sort of chair with his hands tied behind his back. He struggled a little bit, but the knots were too tight. He looked around the room, and spotted David hovering near a table, a machete held in one hand. David looked over towards him and found that he was awake.

"Oh good, you're up. I'm glad you could come back from the deepest reaches of your mind. Why didn't you kill her, Louis?"

"How do you know she's alive?"

"Because I saw Shane bandaging her up. And you only do that if the person is alive. But you had massacred a dozen of my men, so I thought I'd take you out first. I found you unconscious in an alley. Totally defenseless. So I took you back here and tied you up in that there chair."

"Fuck you David. Let me out of this chair, and I'll fucking kill you!"

"Have you heard the term survival of the fittest, Louis?" David used his machete to slide some sort of meat into a basket below the table. Louis swore that it was a… human hand. "Well, around here, we're very fit. How do you think we survived for this long?" Louis closed his eyes now, and prayed to God that Shane could find him…

**Wow. Looks like Louis has gotten himself in a sticky situation, huh? Will he get saved? Well, I know of course, I'm the author! Silly me. Seriously though, Louis looks kind of screwed right now, it'd take a miracle to save him from David's grasp now…**

**Anyway, hello there readers of my fan-fiction! Just a quick update related to the cover art of this series of Last of Us fan-fictions. You guys know what a cover art is? The picture that acts like a book cover? Well, I've decided that I want an actual cover art for use in my future stories. The thing is though… I'm a fucking terrible artist. You see my problem? So what I'm hoping is that one of you guys are a fairly good artist, and maybe one of you could create a piece of artwork of Louis and Ellie that I could use as a cover art. If one of you does decide to do me this favor, make Louis look like how you imagine him, I don't care, and send your artwork to my email address (nathan11199 ) and I'll use it as the cover art in my future stories. And there will be future stories, I promise. **

**So enough from the mouth of the author, read and enjoy other stories, and I'll have the last part of this chapter in Louis's life up within a week. As always, thanks for reading my stories.**


	4. Revenge

Shane followed Ellie through the snow up to the house Ellie was living in at the moment. He just couldn't get his mind off of Louis, and the horrible things that would be happening to him right now. Assuming David hadn't already killed him. They eventually found themselves outside of the house and Ellie gestured for Shane to follow her inside. He obediently followed her and they ran down some stairs and descended into what looked like a basement.

"Oh no." Ellie pushed Shane back onto the wall and ran up the flight of stairs. Shane looked at the basement and saw nothing. What the hell had her worked up? He ascended the stairs and found Ellie back outside, shouting something. He thought she was shouting a name, 'Joel', but wasn't too sure.

"What just happened? Why did you run back out here?" Ellie turned around and faced him. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

"He's gone. The man that I needed that medicine for? He's just up and left the basement!" Shane tried to calm Ellie down.

"Ellie?" She kept pacing, wondering where Joel could've gone. "Ellie!" She stopped pacing and looked over at Shane. He walked up to her and comforted her by putting his hands on her shoulders. "I don't think that your friend could've gone far if he's as wounded as you said. We just gotta spread out and find him alright?" Ellie found comfort in the seventeen year olds voice. She nodded after a couple of seconds. "Okay, good. You try and search around this area and I'll go a bit further up and search there, alright?"

"Alright, I can do that I guess." Shane gave her a smile and a quick hug, then left to search for Joel further up the road. Ellie stood there and watch Shane jog off down the street, and after a few seconds wandered off to search for Joel as well.

Shane entered one of the houses lining the street. Someone was here, quite recently by the looks of it. He searched the entire house thoroughly, but in the end found nothing, and exited the building. He had to admit, he couldn't focus on anything at the moment, his mind torn between finding that friend of Ellie's, Louis, and Ellie herself. He moved into a building across the street from the previous house, but it was basically the same situation there. Louis could be in danger right now. Why would he come here, instead of saving Louis back at the town? Was he stupid? Or did he make a smarter decision, and not get himself killed looking for Louis? Shane finished with the house he was in, once again finding nothing, and moved further up the street.

And then there was Ellie. He felt ridiculous that he actually kind of liked the girl. She was three years younger than him, for Christ's sake! He felt like a goddamn wreck between his feelings for Louis and Ellie. He was snapped from his train of thought by a gentle pressure that was applied to the back of his head.

"You better stay right where you fucking are. Who are you?" Shane froze and said nothing. "I ain't got time for this, boy! How about a different question? Where's the girl?" Shane realized that this was the man Ellie had him looking for.

"Listen man, calm down. Do you mean Ellie?" The man pushed the gun harder onto Shane's head.

"How do you know her name?" 

"Because I'm a friend of Ellie's. We were looking for you." The man scoffed at that.

"So you know her name? Is that supposed to make me trust you? You're going to have to try a hell of a lot better than that. Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. Where. Is. The. Girl?" 

"And I'm telling you the truth!"

"Well, I don't see the girl anywhere around here." As if on cue, they heard Ellie's voice from the distance. She jogged up towards them.

"Joel!" She ran up to the man and hugged him, but he kept the gun leveled on Shane's head. She let go of him and lowered his arm by herself. "It's alright Joel. He's friendly. He's been helping me." She showed Joel the bandage just above her stomach. If Ellie trusted this stranger, then he trusted him. He put the gun back in its holster, and Shane turned around to face the both of them.

"What's your name?" Joel asked him.

"I'm Shane. I'm with the Fireflies. My truck crashed not too far from here, killed most of the people that were on it. All that was left was me and my friend Louis. In fact, he's the one who introduced us."

"Well, where's this Louis now?" Ellie and Shane exchanged glances. Ellie was the first to speak up.

"Well, the thing is… we found these bandits, right? Only we didn't know they were bandits. They had women and children, and they seemed too nice to be bandits. One of them, a guy named David, gave us some medicine, but in exchange, he wanted to talk to Louis. I don't know what he said to him, but he convinced him to…" Ellie paused for a moment, wondering how to explain it. "Stab me." Shane decided to interrupt here.

"He _was_ going to just leave, but he sent me to save you're…" Shane held back for a second. "Daughter?"

"No, no, Joel's not my dad." Ellie intervened.

"Well, okay." Shane shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He got me to save her life. Even if he did cause the need to save it." Joel scoffed again.

"Yeah, because that just makes up for everything. Apologizing ain't gonna make this right. And if he's that gullible to have some fucking bandit convince him to hurt someone he didn't want to hurt originally, then he obviously ain't safe to be around."

"Hey, don't talk about him that fucking way, man! You don't have the right to say those things about him!"

"Oh really? I think I do considering the things this boy has done. C'mon Ellie." Joel began to walk away, before Shane called out to him again.

"You can't talk about him that way, because he's schizophrenic." Joel stopped in his tracks. 

"What?"

"I think I should shoot you right now, for saying those things."

"Listen kid, I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Apologizing ain't gonna make this right." Shane told him, imitating Joel's Texan accent. Joel turned to face Shane and Ellie. "Right now, he's probably being held somewhere by one of the bandits. We need to help him. We need your help" Joel stroked his graying beard.

"Ellie? You're the one this boy harmed. What do you think?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance, don't they?" Joel sighed.

"I can't believe we're about to do this. But fine. Let's go rescue that boy then, shall we?

_Louis felt the cold grip of the glock he was holding in his sweaty hands. He had fired one shot from the pistol, but didn't dare shoot any more. He could see the pain, the betrayal, the anger on Gerald's face. He lowered the gun, eventually dropping it at his feet. Shouts could be heard all around him, but he couldn't focus on any of them._

"_I'm sorry." The ten year old whispered. Gerald looked up to face him, still holding his chest where the gunshot had hit._

"_You bastard kid. You just threw your whole life by shooting me. I never wanted you here, and neither did your father. He and I just felt an obligation to keep you. I should've just left you for dead." Louis felt like crying from the hurtful things Gerald was saying. So much so, he didn't see the man behind him, aiming a pistol at his head. Before a shot was fired, Louis felt his father grab him and dodge the bullet. _

"_You okay, squirt?" His father asked him._

"_He told me to do it. I swear!" Louis's father kept his arms wrapped around Louis. "I didn't want to! He just told me everything would be better if I…" Louis started to cry now, his head resting on his father's shoulder._

"_Barney, the boy is a danger and a menace. He needs to be killed." Barney stood up, keeping his son at his side._

"_Christ Gerald, he's ten! He has schizophrenia for fucks sake!" Gerald took a couple of steps closer, still clutching his chest._

"_Which is why it would be kinder to the boy to kill him now than let him get killed by some kind of infected that he thought was a friendly person." Barney recoiled at the suggestion._

"_I made a promise to Zoey when she lay on her deathbed that I would keep this boy safe! And I keep my promises Gerald." One of Gerald's men backed him up with a gun._

"_It's the boy or us, Barney." Gerald signaled for the man behind him to stay back._

"_He's my son, Gerald. And I'm not going to leave him for you."_

"Then leave my territory, Barney. I'll get my revenge later."

"_We'll see about that." He turned, holding his son's hand, and looked towards him. "C'mon squirt. Let's go."_

"_You'll regret the day you betrayed us, Barney!" Gerald called out to him, before they disappeared from Gerald's view._

Louis tried frantically to loosen the ropes that were tying his hands to the chair. It was a lost cause though. He eventually gave up on that and instead focused on David.

"So, what? You're going to chop me up and feed me to your citizens?" David didn't look up from what he was doing.

"That's the basic point of it."

"Tell me then, do the children know what they're eating? Do the women, for that matter?" David gave a short chuckle.

"That is none of your concern."

"That may be, but you can't survive like this. What happens when no-one starts coming near your town? What happens then?" David looked towards Louis.

"You must think you're smart, huh? Well I'll tell you something kid. Just because you don't agree with us, doesn't mean you're better than us. You should be tolerant of those who do different things than you. I should be able to take down a president, and still have people respect me!"

"If people knew what you were doing here, they sure as hell ain't gonna respect you. I know I don't. Then again, I am tied up to a chair about to get eaten, so I'm not sure I count." David put his machete up against Louis's throat, one jerk away from killing him.

"You think you can kill a dozen or so of my men in a hallucinogenic rage, act like an innocent man, insult me constantly when you're in no state to insult people, and think that I'll let you go? Give me a break." He took the machete away from Louis's throat, and went back to the table.

"I do!" Louis told him. David stopped, and instead went over to Louis's backpack that sat on a shelf in the next room. He pulled something out of it. Louis's violin. "Don't you touch that." David went and stood in front of Louis, holding the violin.

"This is an impressive piece of equipment, you know? Custom made, I'm guessing."

"Put it down!"

"You know, this would make some great entertainment." He twisted the violin around in his hands, before snapping the thing in half with his knee. "Oops."

"You fucking cunt! Let me out of here, and I'll fucking kill you!" Louis thrashed around frantically in his chair.

"Boy's got some kick to him! You know what? I'm a fair man. Let him out of the chair! I want it to be a satisfying kill!" One of David's men went and untied Louis from the chair. He got up from the chair and looked around the room. Three guys, he counted. He could take them. Or at least kill David trying.

Ellie and Shane led Joel up to the town where Louis was being held. When they got near enough, Shane commanded them both to crouch down.

"There are three of them in the entrance. If we want to get in the town, we need to get through there."

"You think we can take them?" Joel asked him.

"Easily. The only problem is, we go in guns blazing, and we'll have the whole town on our asses."

"Then what do you expect us to do, Mister Firefly?" 

"I didn't say we wouldn't go in guns blazing, did I?" Shane pulled out his pistol, and moved up to some sort of building that stood outside the entrance. Joel moved up as well, holding a hunting rifle in his hands, followed by Ellie, armed with a bow. Shane gave a signal for Joel to shoot one of the men, which he did. The bullet pierced right through the man, causing him to slump to the ground. Shane fired his pistol before the men could react, killing another man. Shane hadn't had enough time to fire on the last guy, as he ran back inside the town, presumably to warn the entire town to their presence.

"Shit!" Joel almost ran in after the man, but a shot ringing from the wall around the entrance put a stop to him, and he hid back behind the wall. "Damn it, they have a rifle up there."

"I think I might have something to help that." Shane pulled a smoke grenade from his belt, the only one he had, and pulled the pin. It began to smoke, and he threw it just past the wall they were behind. It hissed into a gigantic cloud, covering the path to the entrance. Joel and Ellie ran through the cloud into the town, but when they got to the other side, Shane was nowhere in sight.

"Where the hell did he go?" Joel asked Ellie. She shrugged, and got behind cover when she saw some more bandits come into view. Joel slid into some cover across from her. They began an intense firefight, both sides occasionally popping out to take shots at the other side. Ellie heard a scream come from behind them, followed by a bandit toppling from the wall. Ellie looked to the top of the wall, and saw a few bullets being fired from up there. The shots killed the bandits that Ellie and Joel were fighting. They saw Shane appear on top of the wall.

"You guys didn't think I'd leave you, huh?" Ellie looked over to Joel, and could've sworn he was smiling.

"How'd you get up there, kid?" Joel shouted to him.

"You ever heard of parkour, old man? It ain't that hard to do a few wall-runs, climb a couple walls, you know?"

"Maybe for you, kid. I ain't as athletic as you appear to be!" Shane let out a laugh. Ellie began to smile as well. Shane leapt down from the wall, performing a roll on impact with the ground, and landing in front of Ellie.

"That was awesome, Shane." Ellie told him.

"I'm not one to disappoint, am I?" Joel lost his smile as he started to jog further into town.

"Come on, you two. We better go." Shane gestured for Ellie to go first, which she did, and he followed behind.

Louis was pushed onto the ground, once again, by David. The man was like a lion playing with his food. He jumped up again, wiping the blood away from the corner of his mouth.

"You just won't give up, will you kid? Well, I'm okay with that. I find this quite fun!" Louis hated this man, and tried to channel that rage into his fighting. But he just couldn't do it. "You managed to kill a dozen of my men by yourself, but you can't take out three more people? You're pathetic." Louis threw another punch at David, but David just countered him again and hit him with three more blows.

The trio made their way through the base, fighting countless men along the way. They eventually came across a dead end.

"I guess it's not this way then." Ellie said.

"Isn't there some sort of prison around this town?" Joel asked Shane.

"I don't know, I've only had a rough tour of the town. The closest thing they had to a prison was a cell in the butchery."

"Then it's a start. Where is that?"

"It's a bit further back where we came fr…" A gunshot was fired towards them, and narrowly missed Shane. They got behind some cover and tried to see where the gunshot was coming from.

"Up there, four buildings down. I can see a couple of them hiding and taking turns firing." Shane told Ellie and Joel.

"I think I could hit them from here." Joel replied. He aimed his hunting rifle and pulled the trigger, but no bullet came out. "Damn, I'm out of ammo." Another shot rang out from the bandits.

"Don't worry, I got this." Shane told them. He waited for the next shot, and then vaulted over the cover. He sprinted down the path towards the building, and didn't stop when he hit the wall running. He got in several steps before grabbing the roof and hauled himself up. The two men let go of their rifles, and instead tried to engage with him in hand to hand combat. The first man tried to hit him in the sides, but Shane used his forearm to block it, and kicked the man in the leg, causing him to kneel on the ground. The other bandit aimed for Shane's face, but Shane caught his fist in mid air. He twisted the man's arm and tripped him so he fell to the ground. The first one got back up and tiredly threw another punch. Shane grabbed his arm again and turned him around and broke his arm. The man let out a pained scream and fell to the ground. Shane placed his foot on the pained mans neck, and twisted it, breaking the man's neck. The other man was still dazed on the ground, so Shane picked him up by his jacket and brought him near the edge of the building. "Where is Louis?" He asked the man.

"Who the hell's Louis?" Shane let go of the man, but caught him just before he fell off the building.

"I drop you now, and you will die a slow, painful death lying in that snow with a broken spine. Now, where. Is. He?"

"I ain't gotta tell you shit." Shane noticed footsteps behind him. He let go of the man and let him fall into the hard snow. He hit the man behind him with his elbow, and tackled him to the ground. Using a piece of cable behind him, he wrapped it around the man's neck and got him back up, bringing him to the same spot as the last man.

"Where is Louis? And don't bullshit me." The man let out a whimper.

"He's being held at the butchery by David. He's going to be the next meal."

"Meal, huh? So you guys are a bunch of hunters? Looks like you chose the wrong profession buddy." Shane kicked the man off the roof, but he didn't go very far down, just far enough to let the cord do its work. The man kicked around for a few seconds, but went still. Shane stood on top of the building, and wondered what the hell caused him to do that. Was it Louis? Ellie walked up to the building, followed by Joel.

"Jesus, Shane. Just Jesus." Joel walked up to the man in the snow, who was rolling around in the snow. Joel put the man out of his misery by snapping his neck.

"I don't know what happened. I just want to find Louis already that I just…" He hopped down from the building and landed next to Ellie.

"Are you kidding, Shane? You were badass! You were like some kind of ninja up there. Just blocking and countering those punches and you… you… hanged a man! That was awesome!" Ellie seemed excited by Shane's actions. He grabbed her shoulders to calm her down.

"Ellie, that wasn't something to be proud of. I _hanged _a man. I'm not that type of person. If I'm proud of it, I'm no better than them."

"But it was cool, Shane." Joel called over to them.

"Come on, we saving your friend or what?" Shane let go of Ellie and turned to find Louis, but not before Ellie gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"That was awesome though." She ran off towards Joel, leaving Shane standing there. He looked up at the hanging man, and sighed.

"It looks like we're both having bad days, huh?" Was the last thing he said as he ran off after her.

Louis groaned from the injuries he had sustained from David and his goons. He felt too tired now, too tired to even throw a punch.

"What's the matter boy? You tired? Then how about you just lie down and die!" _Yes, why don't you Louis? I mean this is pathetic. Like watching a deer try and escape from a hunter. I almost wish you hadn't thought me up._ Louis fell to his knees, and looked up towards David. David lifted Louis's chin so he looked him straight in the eyes. "You ain't nothin' kid. Just a pathetic, mentally handicapped, teenager."_ Or maybe you're something more Louis. Maybe you're better than these guys. You're a nice guy, something these people could never be. You're able to act exactly like these guys, even with a bunch of hallucinations. That makes you a better person in my book. _David punched him again, sending him to the ground. Once he hit the ground, he couldn't see anyone anymore. Except one person. A man, who stood above him.

"You _are_ pathetic Louis. Just going to give up like that, huh?" He recognized the voice.

"Conscience? Is that you?" The man crouched down, where Louis could see the full view of his face. The man had a lean, handsome face.

"Not only your conscience, squirt." He realized who it was. The face of his father.

"This is bullshit. My dad wouldn't say such things."

"Oh, but I would. It was true what Gerald said, you know. I didn't want you when your mother died. Just wanted to leave you there with the doctor. But I made a promise to her. And I felt like I had to. What with your illness." 

"Why? Why are you saying all these things?" Barney pulled a machete out of its holster. 

"You tell me. I am just a hallucination of your father, aren't I?" He placed the machete in his son's hands. "Listen, you can't die here. You can't just let David kill you like a dog. For once, stand up for yourself squirt! Don't die like a bitch." And in the blink of an eye, his father was gone, and he was back in the same room with David, the only difference being the machete in front of him. He grabbed it, and got up from the ground, standing in front of David and the other two bandits.

"Oh, the kid's got some more kick to him! Well, we can fix that." One of the two bandits behind David ran at Louis, about to swing at him. Using the machete, he swung it down and lopped off the bandit's arm. He screamed out in pain, and Louis stabbed the machete right through him. The man fell to the ground, dead. David and the other bandit reacted quickly, both striking, but missing. Louis cut deep into the other bandit's flesh, kicking the lifeless body onto the ground. David was the only one left. David pulled out his own machete now, and swung at Louis. Louis blocked the machete, and kept blocking every other strike until it was his turn to strike. He swung the machete three times, each hitting David and sending him backwards against a wall. David dropped his machete and held his stomach, which had been cut deeply.

"This is it David. Your season of terror is over." David held his other hand up.

"Hold on, hold on. I give up. I'm defenseless. You wouldn't hurt a defenseless man, would you?" Louis formed a mix of anger and sadness on his face.

"You're right, I wouldn't. But you ain't defenseless. And you sure as hell ain't no man." Louis plunged his machete into David, and pushed him to the ground. Louis then scrambled to get on top of David, and plunged the machete into David over and over again, and with each plunge, he began to sob. He heard a door open, and people run in, and he was pulled from David's over killed corpse. "Fucking let go of me!"

"Louis, Louis, Louis, it's me, Shane! Calm down!" Louis stopped thrashing about and began to sob again.

"Shane, he tried to eat me Shane! I didn't know what to do! I took one stab and just kept going and going." Shane held Louis in his arms, giving comfort to the teen. "He was going to…"

"Shhh, Louis, I've got you now. You're safe from anything if you're with me." Louis laid his head down and continued to cry, and Shane kept Louis held in his arms. "I promise you, you're safe Louis. I promise." Joel and Ellie looked from the doorway.

"I don't know whether to be mad at Louis for stabbing me, or sorry for him for what he's been through." Ellie looked over to Joel. "I think we should take them with us. They'd be a big help. Both of them are Fireflies."

"Shane, I'm fine with. The blonde one, Louis, I ain't so sure about."

"Come on Joel!"

"The kid has schizophrenia. What if he goes on to kill us because of his hallucinations? I can't let that happen."

"Listen Joel, I still trust Louis. Even if he injured me. So I'm pretty sure you can too." Joel sighed.

"Fine. He can tag along as well. But if that condition of his affects our progress, I won't be afraid to leave him." Ellie smiled. It was the least she could hope for. But for now, she just watched Shane hold Louis for what seemed like a lifetime.

Epilogue

Louis pulled out another cigarette from the pack, along with a lighter. He knew the things weren't good for him, especially for a teenager his age, but they really soothed him emotionally. He placed the cigarette in his mouth and lit it, taking the first drag and blowing the smoke out of the corner of his mouth. It'd been a week since they left the community that belonged to David. Louis preferred not to talk about it, and the others were glad to comply. He stood atop a hill, looking down at the highway below, waiting for the other three to catch up. They eventually caught up with him at the top of the hill, and stood there, admiring the view of the noon sun over the miles of highway before them.

"Well, ain't that something?" Shane asked.

"It sure is. Absolutely stunning." Louis took another drag. "How much further until we get to Salt Lake City?" Joel looked at the map in his hands.

"About three hundred miles." Ellie groaned. "Hey, at least we're almost there. I'd suspect a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, top." Now Shane and Louis groaned as well. "Oh stop your complaining." Louis took the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it on the ground.

"You really should stop, Louis. That isn't a healthy habit to have." Ellie told him. Louis just scoffed at that.

"You know what else ain't healthy? Living in this sort of world. Honestly, I'd rather die a death of lung cancer than see humanity collapse upon itself and take itself out in a blaze of glory."

"Those are wise words coming from a dumb teenager." Joel mumbled.

"Your damn right they are." 

**Well, so ends another chapter in Louis's story. Gotta say, this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. Definitely the longest. I mean seriously. Just over ten thousand words. Wow. Anyway, keep on the lookout for the next part of the story, titled **_**The Stranger**_**. Can't wait to start writing that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this!**


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